Golf Flow

are designed to give us a sense of sameness and consistency from day to day, the reality is that we are in a constant, perpetual, and eternal state of change. We are all in the process of growth and of becoming someone new. Because every observer of the human condition, from Aristotle to James to Piaget to modern doctors, acknowledges that the human condition is one of continual biological, psychological, and physical change, it serves us well to accept that fact and enjoy the ride. Those who resist this fundamental feature of reality often become stuck—stuck psychologically, stuck emotionally, and stuck in the ruts that are characteristic of narrow-minded golfers.
    Sean O’Hair’s 2011 decision to “let go and let God” reflected his willingness to turn himself over to the development that was emerging from within him. At the age of 30, he was not the same golfer that he was at 17, and his acceptance of this truth is what enabled him the freedom he needed to play better golf. On this note, I find that too many golfers aim to remain static. They resist the fact that life—at biological, physical, and psychological levels—is a process of change. By accepting and embracing this fact, we can better understand how and why golfers should give up trying to overcontrol their destinies in golf and instead play with the momentum of their lives. When they do this, their golf begins to take on emergent properties that allow for the serendipitous collision of factors that leads to the complex and exceptional state of flow.
    Perhaps the most vivid example of emergence and symbiosis is life itself. Scientists know at a material level what makes us uniquely human. Generally, you, me, Ernie Els and the rest of the seven billion people who inhabit the planet are composed of roughly 65 percent oxygen, 18 percent carbon, 10 percent hydrogen, 3 percent nitrogen, 1.5 percent calcium, and trace amounts of phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and iodine. Armed with this knowledge, scientists should be able to combine these elements in such a way as to create life. Combine the elements, cook them to the right temperature, shake them up, and create a living being! Sounds easy, right?
    But following this recipe, as scientists in the past have done, produces nothing but a soupy mixture of disparate elements. Even when placed in an environment conducive to creating a living being, these ingredients don’t become a person. Although scientists can identify the building blocks of life, they cannot create life. Life is, by all measures, an emergent process.
    Our bodies are constantly renewing themselves. At a molecular level the human body fully renews itself every seven years. Other than your teeth (which do not repair themselves) every organ and cell you have now is entirely different from ones you had seven years ago. We generate a new taste bud every 10 days, an entirely new skin about once per month, and a new skeleton every three months. Every hour about one billion cells in the body must be replaced.
    “That’s interesting,” you may be saying to yourself, “but what can this possibly have to do with golf?” The game of golf is played by people, and just as peoples’ lives are a dynamic process of growth and regrowth, golf is a dynamic game that requires growth and regrowth of our perspective, beliefs, and sense of self.

Letting Your Game Evolve
    Many golfers get to a place in their game where they prefer remaining stagnant to evolving with their game. They often reach this point when they are playing well. They feel good about their game, they are swinging and putting well and naturally, and they want to remain in that place of playing well. In my opinion, this tendency to want to stay put is a mistake that leads to stagnation and is counterproductive to growth. To try to stay the same while your physical and psychological selves are undergoing change would mean that you’re using an outdated swing and mind-set for your current self.
    You wouldn’t dream of playing in the clothing and shoes that you wore many years ago, or using the clubs or balls that you used when you first started in the game, or playing the level of course that you started out on. If you are an adult reading this book, you probably don’t react with the same temperament you did as a teenager, having adopted a perspective that allows gratitude and patience to come more quickly.
    Golf requires such evolution. Just as